From Cirrhosis to a Hepatitis C Cure | William’s Story

August 30, 2019

>>Early in my life, I was
an intravenous drug user. (soothing piano) From then I became
incarcerated I’d been shot four times on three different occasions. And it was at that time, I was working the kitchen
in one of the institutions. And that’s when I became
aware that I had Hep-C. You know you hear this
stigma about Hepatitis C but you never, really
hear nobody fallin out or anything like HIV,
or anything like that, so I just went on with my merry life. And never had any kinda symptoms. And so it wasn’t until 2016, it starts out to moderately scratching. I couldn’t stop the scratching. I could not, it’s like I
can’t get, you know you got one of them itches you can’t get. I was scratching so bad that,
I started bleeding on my legs. So I immediately called
Johns Hopkins because, I’ve been hearin bout this, new treatment, you know, and it’s really non-invasive.>>Woman: What this does is measures how severe your liver stiffness is.>>And they told me that I
got cirrhosis of the liver and I only associated
cirrhosis of the liver with somebody that drink alcohol I never, I used a lot of drugs
I never drunk alcohol.>>The Hep-C had caused so much damage, that you’re starting to have symptoms.>>Mmm, I was scared to death. But the treatment was so easy.>>It’ll be simple, pills
alone, just three months.>>Just like I go to bed
at night I take a pill. It couldn’t be easy, it
was the simplest thing I probly had to do as far as medication. Take a pill, you know, drink some water. Do whatever you told me to do. And to have it better
and to have Hep-C gone, that’s a ton of relief. I have children I have grandchildren I ain’t ready to go nowhere yet. So I think that it’s really important that people just get tested.>>Three minutes out of your whole life.>>Do you wanna wait do
you wanna take that chance. My name if William T. Glover-Bey, and I am cured of Hep-C
and I’m so grateful. (uplifting music) (melodic chiming)